Major construction plans come to an end
By Genna Tan
The most extensive five-year construction plan in recent Santa Clara history, both in dollars and square footage, will be completed by the end of the summer.
The plan includes the library, the business school building, the remodeling of Ricard Observatory, the pool and smaller projects.
No new construction projects will be started this summer, as there are several building projects that need to be finished, said Joe Sugg, assistant vice president for university operations.
"Our biggest effort is finishing up the business school, which we hope to do by the end of June," said Sugg. "Our next major effort is the swimming pool, which is under construction, and our target for that is September."
The business school building was originally scheduled to open at the end of August, but with construction ahead of schedule, the building will be finished at the end of June.
To coincide with the opening of the business school building, some departments will be moving.
The Drahmann Advising and Learning Resources Center, which is now located in Benson Center, and the religious studies, modern languages and philosophy departments, which are all located in Bannan Hall, will move to Kenna Hall.
The international studies department -- which is currently located in trailers near the Music and Dance Building -- will also move to Kenna. Those trailers will be removed by the end of summer, and the space will be turned into a grassy area, Sugg said.
There are no plans to remodel Benson, but there will be some changes made on the second level to consolidate the housing office, the Access Card office, dining services and event planning.
The third floor of Bannan will be remodeled in the fall, and some parts of the law school that are currently located in Loyola Hall will move into Bannan.
"I think unlike some of the past years where we've had to move people out of buildings and things like that, this is hopefully not going to create any inconvenience for the campus community," said Sugg. "It should be a pretty smooth summer operation."
The target date for the opening of the pool is September, as the water polo team will need to hold practice there in fall.
The west upper bleachers in Leavey Center are also going to be replaced starting this month, and the project will be completed by the end of August, said Sugg.
The cost of construction of the new business school building is about $36 million. The pool will cost about $3.7 million, said Sugg.
Two classrooms in Alumni Science Hall will be changed into lab support rooms, and one other classroom will be converted into an optics lab. The original lab support rooms in Alumni Science will be converted into faculty offices and research labs, said Sugg.
The air-conditioning system in Heafey Law Library and Bannan will also be replaced.
"Some big money items that most people don't think about but that we're going to be doing this summer is replacing the air-conditioning systems," said Sugg.
Many residence halls will also receive "a whole load of devices" for fire safety, according to Sugg. Swig, Walsh, McLaughlin, Bellarmine and Nobili residence halls will receive these upgrades in fire safety equipment. There are no plans to remodel any residence halls over the summer.
The elevators in Swig will be replaced during the summer, and kitchens will be installed at the end of the hallways.
The one-story archaeology building is scheduled to be demolished and converted into new parking lots, which will be part of the parking count required for the new business school building.
Ricard Observatory will undergo some major remodeling, such as a seismic upgrade to make it more earthquake-resistant and removal of hazardous material. The archaeology lab will be moved to Ricard Observatory once construction is completed.
Contact Genna Tan at (408) 554-4546 or gbtan@scu.edu.